Holding On For Tomorrow Wasteland And Sky

Peeping Thomas has a very nice view

Across the street at the exhibitionist

These townies, they never speak to you

Just stick together so they never get lonely

Feeling lead, feeling quite light-headed

Had to sit down and have some sugary tea

In a chemical world, in a chemical world

It's very, very, very cheap

The 1980s are regularly seen as either a time of optimism or unbridled materialism in the west, while the '90s are looked back on in a multitude of confusing and contradictory ways. It's hard to understand unless you lived through it, but even before Cultural Ground Zero turned everything into a flavorless soup, the decade was a very confused time.

For those of us in Gen Y, we saw our quality video games, movies, TV, and books, as beacons of the oncoming hope of a brighter future. Things were always getting better, and they naturally always would. Boomers were seizing control of the world from their retiring parents and knew exactly how they were going to fix it all. Gen Jones had finally allowed a piece of the pie due to their older brothers finally moving up, albeit a very slim one. Greats were enjoying the fruits of retirement. Millennials were toddlers. So with all this you would be forgiven for thinking everything was hunky dory. The world was about to become an even better place!

However, much like the modern media, you'll notice I'm forgetting someone. They're sort of the key to this.

To truly understand this era you need to approach the elephant in the room, which is Generation X. Looking back at the 1990s out of context, you will see an entire generation of people whose art and entertainment directly contrasted with everything else actually happening at the time. It's a bit much to take in or process unless you were there. Oh, if you were around at the time, you might have remembered how many odd potshots the media took at Gen X.

People like to point to grunge as some sort of definitive statement on Gen X, but that was a cynical cash grab intended to replace hair metal acts from getting too pricey on their record contracts. Nirvana had nothing to say and their sound had nothing original to it. You take the Meat Puppets and Replacements and mash them together; taking away Curt Kirkwood's country twang and hardcore punk leanings, and Paul Westerberg's testosterone and poignant lyrics, gives you the flavorless commercial mush of Nirvana. They had nothing to say aside from mindless nihilism, which made them very easy to sell in the mainstream. It's no wonder Cobain felt imposter syndrome as hard as he did: those that afford him legacy status today are playing right into the hands of the recording industry, and not affording him the solitude he wished for.

But amidst the Gen X dourness that was floating to the top in the 1990s, there were a few albums that were flatly ignored for making the wrong people uncomfortable. Nihilism and hedonism were cool, and no one wanted the public to be reminded of what they truly led to. They still don't. I talked about Urge Overkill's Exit the Dragon a while back, which is one such record. It is an album about bottoming out after indulging in decadence, and slowly finding the way out. The hints as to what those answers might be are uncomfortable to many in a secular setting, so the album was written off and buried.

However, there is one album in this mold that did have (limited) success. That would be Modern Life is Rubbish by the alternative rock band Blur, released in 1993. This was the album that came out right before their follow-up, Parklife, became a mega-hit in their home country and brought them incredible fame, an album that is actually the flipside of this one. Many in the industry used that one as a shield to avoid talking about this record.

Modern Life is Rubbish released just as the tidal wave that was Britpop was unleashed on the world, and ended up predicting a few things that would come of it, but to this day is an album resoundingly ignored by everyone except those who listen to the band. There is a reason for that, and it isn't the quality of the album, which is phenomenal.

In fact, I would be so bold as to call it one of the best records of the 1990s. It is certainly on my list of all-time favorite albums. To explain just why, we have to do a bit of a dive into it. Clean out your ears and listen to one of the great overlooked records.

We start with For Tomorrow, the first single and first track, which states the album's uncomfortable thesis up front:

He's a twentieth century boy

With his hands on the rails

Trying not to be sick again

And holding on for tomorrow

London ice cracks on a seamless line

He's hanging on for dear life

And so we hold each other tightly

And hold on for tomorrow, singing

La, la, la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la

Holding on for tomorrow

She's a twentieth century girl

With her hands on the wheel

Trying not to make him sick again

Seeing what she can borrow

London's so nice back in your seamless rhymes

But we're lost on the Westway

And so we hold each other tightly

And we can wait until tomorrow, singing

La, la, la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la

Holding on for tomorrow

We're trying not to be sick again

And holding on for tomorrow

She's a twentieth century girl

Holding on for dear life

And so we hold each other tightly

And hold on for tomorrow, singing

La, la, la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la

Holding on for tomorrow

Jim stops and gets out the car

Goes to a house in Emperor's Gate

Through the door and to his room

Then he puts the TV on

Turns it off and makes some tea

Says, "Modern life, well, it's rubbish"

I'm holding on for tomorrow

Then Susan comes into the room

She's a naughty girl with a lovely smile

Says, "Let's take a drive to Primrose Hill"

It's windy there and the view's so nice

London ice can freeze your toes

Like anyone, I suppose you're

Holding on for tomorrow

The song is about the pursuit of progress amidst the drudgery that is modernism. How can there be hope for a future when the present is so vapid? We still have people today espousing this mindless Star Trek utopianism that isn't based on any human behavior or reality. Blur shows without having to outright say it: there is no future here.

But that is where the twentieth century ended up. And it is where we are right now.

You might have noticed that the lead singer sounds a lot like 2D from the Gorillaz. that's because that is who it is. This is where Damon Albarn got his start, in Blur, and this is the first album where he really showed his talent as a songwriter. If you do like the Gorillaz, you will see a lot of the appeal in Blur, albeit in a more traditional rock setting. Therefore, you can see why they got popular.

But it wasn't easy for the band to get their success.

The English music press were rather hostile and harsh on bands back in the day (not so much now, ironically, when the music is pure shite) and Blur was one to feel their ire early. The band's first album, Leisure, which released in 1991, was not too great, admittedly. It was a fairly generic, by-the-numbers "baggy" album from the Madchester scene, a sort of psychedelic-inspired hard rock dance sound that didn't last too long into the early '90s. They had a hit single in There's No Other Way, but already their fortunes were not looking too hot by 1992.

Blur was looked at as poseurs glomming onto a fad, and it affected their fortunes. They just had an unsuccessful US tour, the music press hated them, and they were looking to be dropped by their label. At the same time as all this, their management ripped them off and left them in debt. Things were looking dire.

To explain the genesis behind Modern Life is Rubbish, and the shift that saved Blur and made their career, one has to look into their experience at the time.

From wiki:

"The 44-date tour of the United States left Blur in "complete disarray", according to writer David Cavanagh. Dismayed by American audiences' infatuation with grunge and the lacklustre response to their music, the group frequently drank, and members often broke into fist-fights with one another. Homesick, the tour "instilled in the band a contempt for everything American", Cavanagh later wrote; frontman Damon Albarn, who "started to miss really simple things [about England]" listened to a tape of the English pop group the Kinks throughout the tour."

In other words, what Blur was seeing was a loss of all the things they thought made the world, and their home, great. Gen X was infamous for destruction, but they were even more infamous for their hatred of tradition, priding themselves on mindless hate of things they didn't understand. That Blur went in the opposite direction is probably what helped them stand out, giving them a drive that few others of the time period actually had: a hatred of the modern world.

the thing is, while it was their terrible experience in the US that set this off, the resulting album is not really about the US at all, at least not solely. They use their own experiences in their home country to show just how fall we've fallen.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

When they got back to England, they still had a lot of work to do. Early studio sessions were disastrous, including one featuring Andy Partridge of XTC as producer. Finding their groove took a lot of time and effort. Their label fought them the entire way, too. They wanted them to stick with the old sound that was on the verge of killing their career (and ironically that almost led to their label dropping them) which left them adrift.

Basically, it appeared that it was Blur against the world to get their new vision out there. Nothing went their way, and everyone fought them.

"Work resumed on the album due to a chance meeting with producer Stephen Street, who had previously worked with the band on their 1991 single "There's No Other Way". With Street now producing the album, Blur recorded a mix of material spanning both the period immediately after the release of Leisure and their 1992 tour. While the band members were pleased with the recording session results, Balfe, after hearing the songs, told the band they were committing artistic suicide. Although dejected by his response, Blur gave Food the completed album in December 1992. The label rejected the album and instructed the band to record more potential singles. Albarn complied, and on Christmas Day wrote the song "For Tomorrow". Although "For Tomorrow" sated Food's concerns, Blur's American label SBK voiced discontent upon hearing the finished tapes of the album. To appease SBK the band recorded "Chemical World", which Blur thought would increase Rubbish's American appeal. However, Blur refused SBK's demand of re-recording the album with American producer Butch Vig, who was popular at the time for his work with Nirvana."

As you can see, the 1990s was no less better for artistic freedom than any other era. Everything listed in the above quote, aside from asking for singles, was a pretty terrible idea, and would have sunk the band. Including trying to make them sand off their edges with Nirvana's producer.

When Modern Life is Rubbish came out, no one was quite ready for the cultural shock of a band who staunchly rejected the readily-accepted modernity of the time for a pride and hope in a tradition that had been slowly disappearing. They correctly saw the dead end of the music industry ahead, and worked to make something that harkened back to other times. It was completely out of joint with the times. By the late '90s, tradition would be ejected entirely from the industry.

But what "tradition" meant to Gen Xers like Blur in the early '90s is not quite what one would expect at the time. When they meant tradition, they meant ALL of it, including musically. The album is very thorough.

In fact, after hearing the original pop single above, this was the second track on the album:

"Food processors are great!"

It's six o'clock on the dot and I'm halfway home

I feel foul-mouthed as I stand and wait for the underground

And a nervous disposition doesn't agree with this

I need something to remind me that there is something else

You need a holiday somewhere in the sun

With all the people who are waiting

There never seems to be one

Say something

Say something else

Advertisements are here for rapid persuasion

If you stare too long, you lose your appetite

And a nervous disposition doesn't agree with this

You need fast relief from aches and stomach pains

I need a holiday somewhere in the sun

With all the people who are waiting

There never seems to be one

Say something

Say something else

One, two, three, four

Five, six, seven, eight

Nine, ten, eleven, twelve

Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen

"You can have a holiday in the sun, yes

Ladies and gentlemen, one week only, on special offer!"

You need a holiday somewhere in the sun

With all the people who are waiting

There never seems to be one

Say something,

Say something else.

That's right, it's a punk song. Surprise! It isn't even the same genre as the first track. This is actually one of those dreaded genre-hopping albums. That's not acceptable! It certainly wasn't acceptable in the early '90s.

You see, the genre trap was already a problem in the music industry just as it is in other ones. People are supposed to make punk albums, metal albums, folk albums, pop albums . . . but never are the streams allowed to cross. Why? Because it's easier to sell a concocted image based on one genre than it is to admit that all the genres are just branches of the same one: that being rock music, in this case. Everyone should instead go to their own corners and never come together.

The band had a field day taking rock tradition and filtering it through their early '90s dislike of modernity. As a result, the eclecticism merges into one strong piece.

Lyrically, however, this is when Damon Albarn came into his own. Before this he was a bit too simplistic and straightforward with his writing, but with Modern Life is Rubbish, he pulls out all the stops. Normally known for detachment and being unemotional, Modern Life is rubbish is the only Blur album where the opposite is true: he sounds very invested and passionate about the subjects. Even in the follow-up albums he uses satire and jokes to carry a lot of the weight of what he was saying. That's not that case here, at all. Modern Life is Rubbish is a very involved album. That helps make it quite unlike any other Blur album.

Below I will list a few of my favorite lyrical turns he uses.

From Colin Zeal:

While sitting in traffic, Colin thinks in automatic
He's an immaculate dresser, he's your common aggressor
Colin's the modern retard with a love of bombast
Keeps his eye on the news, doesn't dwell on the past

The final line of the song:

'Cause Colin Zeal's ill
He's Colin Zeal, and he knows

From Villa Rosie:

Across the common every day, you come across the fine line
But wearing boots can prevent the leeches in the long grass
Eating between meals stifles the appetite, is it healthy?
Coming home, that nagging doubt there in your belly

From Pressure on Julian:

Swimming in yellow, pissy water
Sand getting in between the ears
No blood in head in this bloody weather
Irate people with yellow tongues
Only the magical transit children
Sing-sing a lullaby, bah-bah-bah
Falling into walls, well, what is it with you?
You'd never know, never know, never know

From Resigned:

I think too much on things I want too much
It makes me hateful and I say stupid things
Only you can fill my blank heart
And I'm resigned to that

I wish the sun could just keep me warm
And I'm resigned to that
I'll forget to breathe someday
I've never stopped to think why

Those are just lyrical samples, but the entire album goes through the gamut of what living in modernity is like. From tracks about using drugs for escapism (Chemical World), prostitution and pleasure obsession (Villa Rosie), crass commercialism disguised as human connection (Advert), unexplainable despair in the quiet moments (Oily Water), coping with the unnaturalness of the fast paced world (Coping), and the lone bright spot on the album (Sunday, Sunday) about the last vestiges of family and tradition during this modern swirl of emptiness, which comes dead center in the album. They shine a light in the darkest corners.

Despite how scattershot it might seem when describing it, the record has a very cohesive feel of one vision. It spans rock genres from punk to classic pop to acoustic to alternative rock to even a bit of weirdness (something Albarn would be known for later), but despite that it remains locked together as a single work with a driving force behind it. The lyrics and general mood and production present a vision of the present as it actually is, without the posing of grunge or the pretension of where alternative would soon go with OK Computer. What you are left with is an honest album of what reality was for people of Gen X in the early '90s, and what it would eventually become for everyone else.

It feels like this album might be nihilistic, and it might be considered that, but Albarn's lyrics contain enough humor and just enough detachment to get it all across as plain honesty. He doesn't set off saying that the world is doomed and that there is no hope: only that this is where the world is right now. It's just the truth. There are no predictions of the future or where it might go, no solutions or messages informing you on how to "be butter", only that the world of the early '90s operates like this. You can infer that it isn't good just by what he gets across.

The real issue with Modern Life is Rubbish is that its follow-up album, Parklife, is the album with positivity, even if it contains plenty of satire, it's still a happier record overall. That is an album about the brighter side of life, even among the silliness of the modern day, centered on normal working class people, much like the ones in this album. It also contains more genre exploring, which gives it a brighter color. As a result, it was far better received, and I would say that if you like Modern Life is Rubbish then you would certainly like it, too. You might even like it more. The press and audiences did. I would even highly recommend it. Parklife is 5 star album.

However, the elephant in the room is the passage of time. Even through the satire, the world of Parklife doesn't exist anymore. Both the good and bad parts of that album's subjects were left behind in the '90s. But the world of Modern Life is Rubbish, in contrast?

Let's use an example:

Wash with new soap behind the collar

Keeps a clean mental state

Don't usually bother in cold weather

But still I'm getting into work late

And I don't need the practice

I've been making plans (For the future)

Become an unconscious man (All for the good)

I feel so unnecessary (We don't think so, you seem star-shaped!)

I have a couple at the weekend

Keeps up camaraderie

And my mind boggles in the muddle

At the possibilities

And I don't need the practice

I've been making plans (For the future)

Become an unconscious man (All for the good)

I feel so unnecessary (We don't think so, you seem star-shaped!)

I wash with new soap behind the collar

Helps keep down the laundry

And now I bother in cold weather

Because it cleans me mentally

And I really don't need the practice

I've been making plans (For the future)

Become an unconscious man (All for the good)

I feel so unnecessary (We don't think so, you seem star-shaped!)

This is still reality today. The drudgery of modern life and living from paycheck to paycheck with nothing to look forward to except being told that it is all for something. But what is that something? You are never told.

We're all special and unique, and have plenty to offer. Now become a cog with everyone else. Remember, you're replaceable! No, you're unique--Star Shaped!

How does that add up? But that's the modern world. A bunch of contradictions held together by those who just don't want to think about what they're actually doing.

Contrast this with Parklife's portrayal of vacationing to Greece that the English no longer do, or the scene from the suburban life of the title track that no longer exists, or snapshots of people that can't even be born in the current world that is England. It might be the more hopeful and positive album, even amidst the laughs, but it's also dated far more than this one has.

Even the "love" songs have a doomed feel to them:

Air-cushioned soles

I bought them on the Portobello Road on a Saturday

I stop and stare a while

A common pastime when conversation goes astray

And don't think I'm walking out of this

She don't mind

Whatever I say, whatever I say

I don't really wanna change a thing

I wanna stay this way forever

Blue, blue jeans, I wear them every day

There's no particular reason to change

My thoughts are getting banal, I can't help it

But I won't pull out hair another day

And don't think I'm walking out of this

She don't mind

Whatever I say, whatever I say

I don't really wanna change a thing

I wanna stay this way forever

If you don't mind

Whatever I say, whatever I say

I don't really wanna change a thing

I wanna stay this way forever

You know it would be with you

And don't give up on me yet

Don't think I'm walking out of this

And she don't mind

Whatever I say, whatever I say

I don't really wanna change a thing

I wanna stay this way forever

If you don't mind

Whatever I say, whatever I say

I don't really wanna change a thing

I wanna stay this way forever

You know it's to be with you.

This is a song carried by the drumming. It's a ballad, yes, but the drums are deliberately set down first to set the tone going forward. It's a heavy, claustrophobic beat, which gives an oppressive air to the song that locks it in place despite the pretty piano and acoustic guitars. This appears to be a love song but has another edge to it if you pay attention the lyrics contrasted with the light sound of the strings and keys and Albarn's delivery and what he emphasizes. It's not about love at all.

The title, Blue Jeans, should be the first clue. Look at how the title is used in the song:

Blue, blue jeans, I wear them every day

There's no particular reason to change

My thoughts are getting banal, I can't help it

But I won't pull out hair another day

It's about the realization of the numbing waking dream that modern life is, how it rewards you for killing your thoughts and molding yourself to be the above cog in the machine from Star Shaped. "Whatever I say, I don't want to change a thing" is about the fear of what it will be like if you stand out, if you are ostracized for sharing your thoughts. In the end, we will do anything to avoid being alone. This is a point that is hammered in with the final line "You know it's to be with you" which closes out the song. He is only doing this so he won't be alone, not because of love.

In essence, it's a song about someone killing himself spiritually and mentally to fit in with a society that has no use for who he really is. What sounds like the final line of a pretty love ballad is smothered, because as the softer side of the music cuts out the only thing that remains is that stifling drum beat that began the song originally. It fades out, continuing forever as the prettiness vanishes. The protagonist cannot escape this realization that he is trapped.

The narrator just doesn't want to be alone, but the track is fairly obvious that there is no way to avoid that reality unless he changes himself to be acceptable to those around him. If not, he has no place in society. He will be destroyed for not having the right thoughts.

That feels pretty close to 2021, to me.

But that's the entire album. Modern Life is Rubbish, while a snapshot of the early '90s, actually manages to be more relevant to today. It is certainly Blur's strongest album thematically, and one that still connects to where we are today. Every subject written about is far more of a problem today than when the album was written, and even the genres the album was written in were completely destroyed. Close your eyes and you'd think it was a future vision like Rush's 2112, except this one came true. We live in Modern Life is Rubbish right now.

As it goes, I think it is one of the best albums ever made. It perfectly snapshots the decay that was the 20th century and offers a perfect kaleidoscope of rock genres to emphasize just how powerful music can be. I believe it should be more listened to than it is today, especially for those who love their concept albums. There are few albums that are both as honest and as good as this one is, nor one that I actually wish was dated, but just isn't.

Here is the tracklist. Yes I am using the US version because it is the one I prefer. The rougher demo feel of this version of Chemical World fits the mood better, and Pop Scene is a brilliant single about the musical climate that fits thematically, as well. Your mileage may vary, especially if you're a purist, but this is the version I prefer.

1. For Tomorrow (4:19)

2. Advert (3:45)

3. Colin Zeal (3:16)

4. Pressure on Julian (3:31)

5. Star Shaped (3:26)

6. Blue Jeans (3:54)

7. Chemical World (3:45)

8. Intermission (2:29)

9. Sunday Sunday (2:38)

10. Oily Water (5:01)

11. Miss America (5:35)

12. Villa Rosie (3:54)

13. Coping (3:24)

14. Turn It Up (3:22)

15. Pop Scene (3:14)

16. Resigned (5:14)

17. Commercial Break (0:55)

It is fairly long, but every track has a place to form the picture that is Modern Life is Rubbish. There is no filler. This is an album about modernity, and what it does to the soul. Does it offer hope to the listener? Perhaps a bit, if you listen closely. There is a reason that Sunday Sunday is the centerpiece of the album and the only real outright positive track on it, even amidst the wrapping of modernity. That said, I don't think I'd call the album Superversive, but it isn't meant to be. It is meant to be a snapshot of what modern life actually is, and there is nothing uplifting about the state of society at the time, or now. It's just a perfectly drawn picture of reality.

Also, the album title can be taken two different ways. The first is obvious, that modern life is terrible; the second is that Modern Life is actually about ridiculous Rubbish and physical objects, because there is nothing else to hope for. Either way the album makes it clear: Modern Life is not exactly something to strive for. And that is something that has only gotten more and more obvious as time has passed. This isn't working.

Blur would eventually go on to have many more albums and hits (You've certainly heard Song 2 before, and Coffee & TV was a big underground hit with that music video featuring the weird traveling milk carton) most of which are looked at more fondly than this album is. Damon Albarn would even go on to form the Gorillaz and achieve international stardom with it, reaching more people than Blur ever did. Basically, for many involved, this album was just a stepping stone to bigger things. As a result, its quality has been overlooked by most.

But still Modern Life is Rubbish stands as one of the definitive rock albums of the '90s, and all time, managing to sum up an entire era and a strong feeling of emotion in one work. It's a work of catchy songs, spanning the gauntlet of rock styles, that manages to have ambition without pretension, and an honesty without succumbing to a nihilism that many others in this genre would. There isn't really anything else like it, even from the band.

Should you be a listener of rock music, I highly recommend Modern Life is Rubbish as one of the best and most overlooked albums of the '90s. Yes, it is up there with the likes of Exit the Dragon, Bandwagonesque, and 1977, as underrated genre classics that should be far more well known among rockers than they are. This is weird to say for an album that defined a popular band and artist that would have successful careers, but it still has to be said. It is a perfect album.

Modern Life certainly is Rubbish, but this album isn't. and eventually things will get better. We can't continue in this path forever. You'll know times have changed when this album finally feels dated. Until then, it stands as good document of its era, and one that is as cautionary is it is aural ear candy. It's got the blues, but it also knows how to rock.

And that's where I'll leave you. The times won't always be rubbish, and that's something we can hope for. For now, let us appreciate what we have.

We just need to look back, and remember what's really important.